Jennifer > Recent Status Updates

The top priority in the country was not A1A but XX. The Manhattan Project was among the very few entities that could not only invoke XX but also actually get the materials.

"...admiring leaded glass transoms..." This made me smile. I grew up in a house over a hundred years old that had transoms over almost every original door, and two of them were leaded glass.

"There's is nothing more terrible...than the ferocity with which humans can love." Or greater, except for the ferocity with which God can love.

"...if you want to know the truth about a person, just look through his or her phone." Yes, unless the person also maintains a robust but thoroughly analog life as well.

"When you start with the best, the future offers only disappointment." Not sure I agree, but it's an interesting perspective.

"[Margaret] became the first member of the royal family to visit people with AIDS - but no one noticed." It's interesting who the media chooses to pay attention to - and for what.

"The queen's approach to central heating - 'if you are cold, put on a sweater'" This just confirms that Europeans are crazy when it comes to any form of climate control. And it suggests their climate is ridiculously mild, at least compared to that of 90% of the US.

Some of this has really made me start questioning the degree to which Britain was actually impoverished following WWII.

"Margaret was always served first at mealtime, and no one could speak unless first addressed by her. If she did not eat a certain food, no one else could." Wait...no one could speak at all, or could they just not speak to her first? And the thing about no one being able to eat food she didn't like is absurd. I'm getting a better idea of why we broke away from reading this.

"Who is this Hitler, spoiling everything?" - Princess Margret, age nine in 1939.

The episode with the club card reminds me of the time I was doing Christmas shopping at Pier 1 with my mom. I unexpectedly found the best gift for her, and hurriedly went to pay for it before she came looking for me and saw her gift. And as I was trying to quickly pay, the cashier kept asking me if I wanted to join their rewards program.

"It [Ranelaugh Gardens] was a very formal place to go because the nannies would sit on different park benches according to the titled of the family they were employed by - nannies working for Earls wouldn't dare sit on the bench full of nannies employed by dukes." Preposturous, and I'm beginning to see why the US broke away.

"...the White House was an excellent setting for the many extravagant parties we had." This is going to take some getting used to.

"In 1968 we finally moved into the White House..." made me raise an eyebrow until I got to the "in Tite Street" part of the name.

"Historically, service in war had been an automatic avenue to US citizenship for the foreign born. Those ready to die for their country were deemed worthy to vote in it." Well, yes. In that case, we simply make sure the law recognizes the reality.